System and method for managing battery

ABSTRACT

Disclosed herein is a system for managing a battery including: a coolant pump to circulate a coolant through the system; a first cooling channel including a first shutoff valve to circulate the coolant through a radiator and a plurality of electrical devices, wherein the coolant is configured to heat and cool the battery when the battery is overcooled and overheated; a second cooling channel including a second shutoff valve connected in parallel with the first cooling channel, wherein the second cooling channel is configured to circulate the coolant through a thermoelectric device; and a controller configured to check a temperature of the battery, open and close the shutoff valves, and control the coolant pump to circulate the coolant through the electrical devices and the thermoelectric device when the battery is overcooled, and to circulate the coolant through the radiator and the thermoelectric device when the battery is overheated.

CROSS-REFERENCE TO RELATED APPLICATION

This application claims under 35 U.S.C. §119(a) the benefit of Korean Patent Application No. 10-2012-0118109 filed Oct. 23, 2012 the entire contents of which are incorporated herein by reference.

BACKGROUND

(a) Technical Field

The present invention relates to a system and method for managing a battery while maintaining vehicle performance and durability of a battery by optimally managing the battery temperature in accordance with the status of the battery during vehicle operation.

(b) Background Art

Recently developed environmental vehicles such as hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, and fuel cell vehicles, use a high-voltage battery as the energy supplier. However, the lifespan of the high-voltage batteries reduces at a high temperature and the amount of available energy rapidly decreases at low temperatures. In general, it is known in the art that the operation efficiency temperature of the high-voltage batteries is about 20° C. to 30° C.

The existing methods for cooling the batteries cool batteries perform cooling at a high temperature and existing methods for increasing the temperature of batteries is performed using interior cooled air. However, the interior air cooling load increases when increasing the temperature of the batteries, thereby limiting the controlling of the battery. In other words, when an interior cooler does not operate air cooling for the battery is difficult and the interior air cannot be used in many situations when the interior temperature is high. Therefore, there are various problems in cooling or heating a battery, using the interior air, and it is necessary to cool and heat a battery, using a different type of heat source.

Accordingly, although recent developments use a thermoelectric device to cool and heat a battery, fuel efficiency of a vehicle decreases because the device must be supplied with specific power from the battery, and it is difficult to control the temperature of the battery, with such a device when the battery is exhausted.

The description provided above as a related art of the present invention is just for helping in understanding the background of the present invention and should not be construed as being included in the related art known by those skilled in the art.

SUMMARY OF THE DISCLOSURE

The present invention provides a system for managing a battery (e.g., battery managing system “BMS”) which includes: a first cooling channel that circulates a coolant through a radiator and a plurality of electrical devices; a second cooling channel connected in parallel with the first cooling channel and circulates the coolant through a thermoelectric device that heats and cools a battery, when the battery is overcooled and overheated; a shutoff valve that controls an opening and a closing of the cooling channels at diverging points on the cooling channels; a coolant pump that controls circulation of the coolant; and a controller that controls the shutoff valve and the coolant pump such that the coolant circulates through the electrical devices and the thermoelectric device when the battery is overcooled, and such that the coolant circulates through the radiator and the thermoelectric device when the battery is overheated. In other words, the coolant is used to circulate through the system to heat or cool the battery when the state of charge (“SOC”) of the battery is determined.

The controller circulate the coolant through the radiator, the power electrics, and the thermoelectric device, when the battery and the power electrics are overheated.

The thermoelectric device may be equipped with a fan disposed toward the battery, and the controller may control the coolant pump and the fan to operate at a maximum level, when the thermoelectric device breaks fails.

The radiator may be equipped with a cooling fan, and the controller may control the cooling pump and the cooling fan to operate at the maximum level, when the battery is overheated and the thermoelectric device fails.

The system may further include a third cooling channel connected with the first cooling channel or the second cooling channel and passes through a battery charger, in which the controller may control the coolant not to circulate through the charger, when the charger does not operate.

Moreover, the present invention provides a method of managing a battery including: checking, by a controller, the temperature of a battery; controlling, by the controller, a shutoff valve to circulate a coolant through a plurality of power electrics and a thermoelectric device, when the battery is overcooled; and controlling the shutoff valve to circulate the coolant through a radiator and the thermoelectric device, when the battery is overheated. Additionally, cooling the shutoff valve to circulate the coolant through the power electrics and the thermoelectric device, when the battery and the power electrics are overheated.

The method may further include controlling a fan and a coolant pump at a maximum level, in response to the thermoelectric device failing, wherein the fan is disposed toward the battery in the thermoelectric device. The controller may control the fan, the coolant pump, and the cooling fan in the radiator at the maximum level, when the thermoelectric device fails. Furthermore, the controller may control the fan at the maximum level, when the thermoelectric device fails and may control the coolant pump at the maximum level when the temperature of the coolant is lower than the temperature of the battery.

Further, the present invention provides a method of managing a battery including controlling, by a controller, a cooling channel that connects a radiator, a plurality of power electrics, and a thermoelectric device heating and cooling the battery, wherein a coolant is controlled to circulate, by the controller, through the power electrics and the thermoelectric device when the battery is overcooled, and the coolant is controlled to circulate through the radiator and the thermoelectric device when the battery is overheated.

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS

The above and other features, objects and advantages of the present invention will now be described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof illustrated the accompanying drawings which are given hereinbelow by way of illustration only, and thus are not limitative of the present invention, and wherein:

FIGS. 1 to 3 are exemplary diagrams illustrating the operation of a system for managing a battery according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are exemplary diagrams illustrating a system for managing a battery according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a method of managing a battery according to an exemplary embodiment of the present invention.

It should be understood that the accompanying drawings are not necessarily to scale, presenting a somewhat simplified representation of various exemplary features illustrative of the basic principles of the invention. The specific design features of the present invention as disclosed herein, including, for example, specific dimensions, orientations, locations, and shapes will be determined in part by the particular intended application and use environment.

In the figures, reference numbers refer to the same or equivalent parts of the present invention throughout the several figures of the drawing.

DETAILED DESCRIPTION

It is understood that the term “vehicle” or “vehicular” or other similar term as used herein is inclusive of motor vehicles in general such as passenger automobiles including sports utility vehicles (SUV), buses, trucks, various commercial vehicles, watercraft including a variety of boats and ships, aircraft, and the like, and includes hybrid vehicles, electric vehicles, plug-in hybrid electric vehicles, hydrogen-powered vehicles and other alternative fuel vehicles (e.g. fuels derived from resources other than petroleum). As referred to herein, a hybrid vehicle is a vehicle that has two or more sources of power, for example both gasoline-powered and electric-powered vehicles.

Additionally, it is understood that the term controller refers to a hardware device that includes a memory and a processor. The memory is configured to store the modules and the processor is specifically configured to execute said modules to perform one or more processes which are described further below.

The terminology used herein is for the purpose of describing particular embodiments only and is not intended to be limiting of the invention. As used herein, the singular forms “a”, “an” and “the” are intended to include the plural forms as well, unless the context clearly indicates otherwise. It will be further understood that the terms “comprises” and/or “comprising,” when used in this specification, specify the presence of stated features, integers, steps, operations, elements, and/or components, but do not preclude the presence or addition of one or more other features, integers, steps, operations, elements, components, and/or groups thereof. As used herein, the term “and/or” includes any and all combinations of one or more of the associated listed items.

Hereinafter reference will be made in detail to various embodiments of the present invention, examples of which are illustrated in the accompanying drawings and described below.

A system and method for managing a battery according to an embodiment of the present invention are described hereafter with reference to the accompanying drawings.

FIGS. 1 to 3 are exemplary diagrams illustrating the operation of a system for managing a battery according to an embodiment of the present invention. The system may include: a first cooling channel 500, including a first shutoff valve 700, that may circulate a coolant through a radiator 100 and a plurality of electrical devices 200; a second cooling channel 600, including a second shutoff valve 720, that may be connected in parallel with the first cooling channel 500 and may circulate the coolant through a thermoelectric device 400 that heats and cools a battery 300, when the battery 300 is overcooled and overheated; the first shutoff valve 700 and the second shutoff valve 720 may control an opening and a closing of the cooling channels at diverging points on the cooling channels 500 and 600; a coolant pump 900 that may control circulation of the coolant; and a controller 1000 that check the temperature of the battery. Additionally, the controller 1000 may control the shutoff valves 700, 720 and the coolant pump 900 such that the coolant may circulate through the electrical devices 200 and the thermoelectric device 400 when the battery 300 is overcooled, and such that the coolant may circulate through the radiator 100 and the thermoelectric device 400 when the battery 300 is overheated.

In the system for managing a battery, a cooling circuit may be formed by connecting the radiator 100, the electrical devices 200, and the thermoelectric device 400 in parallel. A coolant such as cooling water may flow through the cooling circuit. In particular, the electrical devices 200 may include all common electronic parts of a vehicle and electronic devices such as a motor.

A 3-way shutoff valve 700 may be disposed in the thermoelectric device 400, wherein the 3-way shutoff valve may be a diverging point on the cooling channel in the embodiment illustrated in FIG. 1. The shutoff valve 700 may be a solenoid and may implement various channels by opening and closing a plurality of pipes. Further, the coolant pump 900 may be disposed in a second cooling channel 600 of the thermoelectric device 400 and may operate such that a coolant circulates through the channel, when there is need for circulating the coolant.

Specifically, the controller 1000 may control the first shutoff valve 700, the second shutoff valve 720, and the coolant pump 900 to form a cooling channel wherein the thermoelectric device 400 may increase the temperature of the battery 300 when the battery 300 is overcooled. Thus, the opposite side of the thermoelectric device 400 may be cooled to supply heat to the battery.

Therefore, the controller 1000 may supply the heat from the electrical devices 200 to the battery 300 through the thermoelectric device 400 by circulating the coolant through the electrical devices 200 and the thermoelectric device 400, as illustrated in FIG. 1. Therefore, it may be possible to use the heat from the electrical devices without operating the thermoelectric device 400 by excessively using the battery power, when the battery 300 increases in temperature, thereby conserving energy.

On the other hand, when the battery 300 is overheated, it may be necessary to cool the battery 300, and the controller 1000 may control the flow of the coolant, as illustrated in FIG. 2, by controlling the shutoff valves 700, 720 to recover the heat from the battery 300. In other words, controller 1000 may control the discharge of the heat through the radiator 100 without adding excessive energy into the thermoelectric device 400 by circulating the coolant through the radiator 100 and the thermoelectric device 400. Moreover, since the coolant may accumulate some heat, overheating may be prevented by the circulation of the coolant when the temperature of the battery 300 is substantially low, and it may be possible to more effectively discharge heat by operating a cooling fan 120 of the radiator 100 when the degree of overheating is substantially high.

Furthermore, the controller 1000 may circulate the coolant through the radiator 100, the electrical devices 200, and the thermoelectric device 400 by controlling the shutoff valve 700, as illustrated in FIG. 3, when the battery 300 and the electrical devices 200 are overheated, and may discharge the heat to be more effectively, similarly, by operating the cooling fan 120 of the radiator 100, when the degree of overheating is substantially high.

Further, the thermoelectric device 400 may be equipped with a fan 420 disposed toward the battery 300. In other words, one side of the thermoelectric device 400 may be exposed to the interior of the battery 300 and the other side may be exposed to the exterior of the battery 300, so the fan 420 may be disposed for air cooling efficiency when the air inside the battery 300 is cooled through one side of the thermoelectric device 400.

The controller 1000 may control the coolant pump 900 and the fan 420 at a maximum value such that uniform cooling and heating due to heat conduction by the thermoelectric device 400 may be performed, thereby ensuring the battery 300 is properly maintained.

Further, the battery 300 may be cooled by heat conduction since the radiator 100 is equipped with the cooling fan 120 and the controller 1000 controls the coolant pump 900, the cooling fan 120, and the fan 420 to operate at the maximum level, when the battery 300 is overheated and the thermoelectric device 400 fails.

FIGS. 4 and 5 are exemplary diagrams illustrating a system for managing a battery according to an embodiment of the present invention. FIG. 4, shows the system further including a third cooling channel 620 that may be connected in parallel with the first cooling channel 500 or the second cooling channel 600 and passes through a battery charger 220. The cooling channel may be formed with the battery charger (e.g., an on board charger (OBC)), and may be disposed apart from the electrical devices 200 of a vehicle. The spacing of the third cooling channel 620 from the electrical devices 200 may allow heat to be more effectively managed since the charger 220 generates heat only while charging.

In this embodiment, the controller 1000 controls the coolant not to circulate through the charger 220, when the charger 220 does not operate, so the heat from the electrical devices 200 may be used to control the temperature of the battery 300. As illustrated in FIG. 4, the shutoff valve may be composed of two 3-way valves 700 and 720 and two coolant pumps 800 and 900. Further, as illustrated in FIG. 5, the circuit may be configured by one 4-way valve 740, instead of two 3-way valve to selectively create various channels through an internal rotary door 742.

FIG. 6 is an exemplary flowchart illustrating a method of managing a battery according to an embodiment of the present invention. The method may include; checking S200, by a controller, the temperature of a battery; controlling S300, by the controller, a shutoff valve to circulate a coolant through a plurality of electrical devices and a thermoelectric device, when the battery is overcooled; and controlling S400, by the controller, the shutoff valve to circulate the coolant through a radiator and the thermoelectric device, when the battery is overheated. In other words, whether the battery is overheated or overcooled may be determined, by the controller checking the temperature of the battery. This process may be performed using an appropriate predetermined temperature range. Further, controlling S300, by the controller, the shutoff valve to circulate the coolant through the power electrics and the thermoelectric device, when the battery is overcooled. Moreover, controlling S400, by the controller, the shutoff valve to circulate the coolant through the radiator and the thermoelectric device, when the battery is overheated.

In particular, the controlling S400 the shutoff valve may include controlling S500 the shutoff valve such to circulate coolant through all of the power electrics and the thermoelectric device, when determined by the controller that the battery and the electrical devices are overheated S430.

Further, a controlling a fan and a coolant pump S600 at a maximum level, when the thermoelectric device fails, wherein the fan may be disposed toward the battery in the thermoelectric device. This process may be further include determining a thermoelectric device failures at various intervals S100, S320, and S420. The controller may control the operation fan, the coolant pump, and the cooling fan in the radiator at the maximum level, when the thermoelectric device fails. Moreover, when the temperature of the battery is checked S700 and it is determined to be within a normal temperature range, the management may finish. Alternatively, when the thermoelectric device fails, the controller may control S600 the fan disposed toward the battery of the thermoelectric device at the maximum level, when the thermoelectric device fails, and may control the coolant pump at the maximum level when the temperature of the coolant is substantially lower than the temperature of the battery.

According to the system and method for managing a battery, which have the configuration described above, it may be possible to improve the heating ability of a battery by using heat from a plurality of electrical devices and prevent deterioration of the battery lifespan by exchanging heat at the exterior of the Thermoelectric device with cooling water. Further, it may be possible to heat a high-voltage battery and maintain the optimal temperature while charging the battery or traveling in colder weather and ensure sufficient available energy of the battery. Additionally, it may be possible to cool a high-voltage battery and maintain the optimal temperature while charging the battery or traveling in warmer climates, ensure durable lifespan of the battery, and reduce the energy consumption, as compared with using the existing interior air cooling systems.

Although the present invention was described with reference to specific embodiments shown in the drawings, it is apparent to those skilled in the art that the present invention may be changed and modified in various ways without departing from the scope of the present invention, which is described in the following claims.

The invention has been described in detail with reference to exemplary embodiments thereof. However, it will be appreciated by those skilled in the art that changes, modifications and variations may be made in these embodiments without departing from the principles and spirit of the invention, the scope of which is defined in the accompanying claims and their equivalents. 

What is claimed is:
 1. A system for managing a battery comprising: a coolant pump configured to circulate a coolant through the system; a first cooling channel including a first shutoff valve, configured to circulate the coolant through a radiator and a plurality of electrical devices, wherein the coolant heats and cools the battery when the batter is overcooled and overheated; a second cooling channel including a second shutoff value connected in parallel with the first cooling channel, wherein the second cooling channel is configured to circulate the coolant through a thermoelectric device; and a controller configured to: check a temperature of the battery; open and close the first and the second shutoff valve; and control the coolant pump for circulation of the coolant through the plurality of electrical devices and the thermoelectric device when the battery is overcooled, and circulate the coolant through the radiator and the thermoelectric device when the battery is overheated.
 2. The system of claim 1, wherein the controller is configured to circulate the coolant through the radiator, the plurality of electrical devices, and the thermoelectric device, when the battery and the plurality of electrical devices are overheated.
 3. The system of claim 1, wherein the thermoelectric device includes a fan disposed toward the battery.
 4. The system of claim 3, further a controller configured to control a coolant pump and the fan to operate at a maximum level when the thermoelectric device fails.
 5. The system of claim 1, wherein the radiator includes a cooling fan operated with the coolant pump by the controller at the maximum level, when the battery is overheated and the thermoelectric device fails.
 6. The system of claim 1, further comprising a third cooling channel connected with the first cooling channel or the second cooling channel and passing through a battery charger, wherein the controller controls the coolant not to circulate through the charger, when the charger does not operate.
 7. A method of managing a battery comprising: checking, by a controller, a temperature of a battery; opening and closing, by the controller, a shutoff valve to circulate a coolant through a plurality of electrical devices and a thermoelectric device, when the battery is overcooled; and opening and closing, by the controller, the shutoff valve to circulate the coolant through a radiator and the thermoelectric device, when the battery is overheated.
 8. The method of claim 7, further comprising opening and closing, by the controller, the shutoff valve to circulate the coolant through the plurality of electrical devices and the thermoelectric device, when the battery and the plurality of electrical devices are overheated.
 9. The method of claim 7 further comprising controlling, by the controller, a fan and the coolant pump at a maximum level, when the thermoelectric device fails, wherein the fan is disposed toward the battery in the thermoelectric device.
 10. The method of claim 9, wherein the controller controls the fan, the coolant pump, and the cooling fan in the radiator at the maximum level, when the thermoelectric device fails.
 11. The method of claim 9, wherein the controller is further configured to: control the fan disposed toward the battery of the thermoelectric device at the maximum level, when the thermoelectric device fails; and control the coolant pump at the maximum level when the temperature of the coolant is lower than the temperature of the battery. 